NY CITY Leading the Fight Against Breast Cancer An Interview with Evelyn H. Lauder, Senior Corporate Vice President and Head of Fragrance Development Worldwide, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., and Founder and Chairman, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®

EDITORS’ NOTE Evelyn Lauder has an amazing program for all women breast cancer research and decided to call it the been a successful businesswoman who were cancer patients called Look breast cancer research Foundation (bcrF). we for 50 plus years at The Estée Lauder good…Feel better. the idea started created a scientifi c advisory board to select re- Companies; an activist and philan- because when a woman is undergo- search projects deserving of support. we then thropist; an accomplished photogra- ing chemotherapy treatments, she can established a board of directors and a board of pher; and a devoted wife, mother, lose her eyebrows, her eyelashes, her advisors who raise money to enable the scientifi c and grandmother. In 1989, Lauder hair, and might even face some skin team to select the very best breast cancer research- initiated a fundraising drive that coloration changes. by showing the ers around the world. established the Evelyn H. Lauder patients how to use rouge, eyeliner, the breast cancer research Foundation Breast Center at Memorial Sloan- eyebrow pencil, earrings, and a wig, was born in august of 1993. our fi rst fi scal year Kettering Cancer Center in New scarf, or hat, they began to feel more ended in June 1994, and in that short period York City. In October 1992, she co- like themselves. at this meeting, we of time, we raised just over $600,000 to sup- created the Pink Ribbon with seLF Evelyn H. Lauder saw a video about women who were port eight researchers. the following year, we magazine, which today has become breast cancer patients, all of whom raised nearly $2 million, the year after that it the worldwide symbol of breast health. The Estée were bald, who volunteered to have their pic- increased to nearly $4 million, then $6 million, Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Awareness tures taken before, during, and after a make- and so on until 2001. myra biblowit became Campaign was established in 1992 and to date over. at the end of the fi lm, there was not a president of bcrF in 2001 and she has guided has distributed more than 110 million Pink dry eye in the house. i started asking questions, the foundation to raise more than $35 million Ribbons worldwide. In 1993, Lauder founded and i learned that 44,000 women were dying a year. since 1993, we have raised more than The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) of breast cancer every year, which was twice as $290 million dollars. which, to date, has raised over $290 million to many people who were dying of aids. at that Have you been happy with the way the fund innovative clinical and translational re- time, aids received a huge amount of publicity corporate world has supported the founda- search worldwide. In 2000, Lauder and The and aids patients were my inspiration, because tion, and what kind of partnerships have Estée Lauder Companies launched its Global many of them were telling stories about their you developed with them? Landmarks Illumination Initiative, whereby his- plight and their campaign for the development the corporate world has been extraor- toric landmarks are illuminated in pink lights of new drugs to treat the disease. women with dinarily helpful and we have many partner- during the month of October, focusing global at- breast cancer were dying quietly. there was re- ships. delta air Lines painted a plane pink tention on this issue. Lauder has received much ally no one who was an advocate for them. and sells pink lemonade during the month of recognition, including France’s Chevalier de la so i started speaking to friends who were october. together with their employees, they Légion d’Honneur in 2002. editor in chiefs at the beauty and health maga- raised $1 million dollars in 2009 for bcrF. zines about running stories on breast health. we have been very fortunate to forge rela- COMPANY BRIEF The Estée Lauder Companies i then became a member of the board of tionships with a wide breadth of corporations Inc. (www.elcompanies.com) is one of the world’s overseers at memorial sloan-Kettering cancer and brands, from bloomingdale’s, saks Fifth leading manufacturers and marketers of high- center. i agreed to help them build a breast avenue, macy’s, coach, and ann taylor, to quality skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair center, and in the end, helped to raise $18 mil- conair, wilson sporting goods, durafl ame care products. Headquartered in New York City lion. that breast center was up and running logs, van cleef & arpels, snuggie, brillo pads, and with more than 30,000 employees, the com- from 1992 until last year, when we moved. in and telefl ora. we even have a program with pany sells its products in more than 140 countries september 2009, we moved into a whole new a fuel company. and territories, under brand names including facility three times the size of the original, the estée Lauder companies hold a big Aramis, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Coach thanks in part to the generosity of my husband, sale each october called sale-a-bration where Beauty, Donna Karan, Estée Lauder, Goodskin Leonard. it is 150,000 square feet over nine we sell merchandise, involving such brands as Labs, Lab Series Skincare for Men, La Mer, M·A·C, fl oors, and it has state-of-the-art diagnostics, a Jo malone, donna Karan, La mer, bobbi brown, Ojon, Origins, and Tommy Hilfi ger. surgical consultation, psychological counseling, estée Lauder, and many more. oncology, and a boutique where women can go Do you ever step back and think about You’ve been the leader in the fi ght to de- to buy all the things that they need, along with how much impact you’ve had in terms of feat breast cancer for over 20 years. How many other services. the breast cancer cause? did this fi ght start for you, and how did it by 1992, there was an established presence i don’t want to spend time looking back- develop in the early days? of awareness, but the one thing that was still wards and evaluating what i’ve done; i just want it started in 1988 when my company missing was coordinated research via a national to move ahead with it. i want to reach the point was invited to a meeting for what was then organization. where the breast cancer research Foundation called the ctFa – the cosmetic, toiletry, and so i consulted with Larry norton, director of goes out of business. all i want is to cure can- Fragrance association. it’s an industry-wide breast cancer programs and deputy physician-in- cer. that, and the dedication of our doctors, group for lobbying in washington, d.c., as chief at memorial sloan-Kettering cancer center, fuels our energy to raise as much money as pos- well as for other purposes. they had created about putting together a foundation focused on sible to fi nd a cure.• 42 Leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2010 magazine, inc. volume 33, number 4